Japanese exhibit different styles in their running of movie studios.

The Japanese are becoming even bigger players in the American entertainment industry as one group buys a partial stake in Warner Bros. and another forms its own Hollywood production company.

Tokyo-based Fujisankei Communications Group announced Oct. 17 it was establishing a Century City-based production company and that Fujisankei executives plan to use a hands-on approach in making movies here.

Not long after, electronics manufacturer Toshiba Corp. and trading giant C. Itoh & Co., both based in Japan, agreed to pay $1 billion for a 12.5 percent stake in New York-based Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. movie-making subsidiary and cable television operations.

The new Japanese stake in Warner Bros. brings to three the number of major American studios in which foreign entities either have a substantial stake or full ownership. The other studios are Sony Pictures Entertainment (formerly Columbia Pictures Entertainment, owned by Coca-Cola Co.) and MCA Inc., parent of Universal Studios.

One entertainment analyst said he sees all of this Japanese investment as a positive sign. "Without Japanese involvement in U.S. films, a lot of films wouldn't be getting made," said Paul Marsh, entertainment analyst with Los Angeles-based Kemper Securities.

Toshiba and C. Itoh are entering Hollywood in the way typical of foreign investors, becoming financial backers and exercising little influence over filmmaking. The takeover of Columbia Pictures Entertainment by Sony Corp. in 1989 and the acquisition of MCA by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. in fall 1990 were also deals of this nature.

In contrast, Fujisankei's approach is an aberration. Fujisankei, which officials billed the fourth-largest media company in the world, is investing $50 million to form its own new company in America, Fujisankei California Entertainment.

Fujisankei California will be managed by both Japanese and Americans, but company President Masaru Kakutani said he would be in charge of approving all films.

Meanwhile, the entertainment industry as a whole is suffering from a severe case of the recession blues. Box office figures for summer 1991 were off 10 percent from summer 1990.

In the past, movies were recession-proof and the public used cinemas as an escape from harsh daily reality, said Tony Adams, president, chief executive officer and a producer at Culver City-based Blake Edwards Co., an independent movie firm.

But now ticket prices are setting records, even when adjusted for inflation, he said. The result is the public just isn't going to the movies as much.

Moreover, a decline in television advertising means TV stations don't have the money to pay as high a price for programming as they used to, Marsh said.

Sales in the recording industry were off by more than 10 percent from January to June, but picked up in the latter part of the year. The first-half decline was the industry's first in eight years, according to statistics published in September by the Recording Industry Association of America.

"Things were slow in the beginning of the year," conceded Michael Mitchell, spokesman for Motown Record Co. L.P.

Although the summer was a letdown for most movie makers, it was a success for several independent film studios that linked with major studios to make some of the period's highest-grossing flicks.

The summer's three biggest box office hits were joint projects between big-name studios and independents. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," which was the summer's biggest box office smash, was the result of a joint venture between Los Angeles-based independent Carolco Pictures Inc. and Culver City-based Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The second highest-grossing flick, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," was the result of combined efforts by Century City-based Morgan Creek and Warner Bros., and "City Slickers," the third most popular movie of the summer, was also the product of teamwork between a major and independent studio.

The troubled saga of MGM-Pathe Communications Corp. and Orion Pictures Corp. also continues. MGM-Pathe lost $100.6 million on revenues of $292.5 million during first quarter 1991 ended March 30, compared with a loss of $9.8 million on revenues of $176.8 million a year earlier.

The enormous quarterly loss is evidence of the financial troubles the company has had since MGM/UA was bought in October 1990 by Pathe Communications Co., a shell company headed by Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti.

Last spring the French bank Credit Lyonnais, MGM-Pathe's prime lender, ousted Parretti as co-chairman of the company. Parretti and Credit Lyonnais have since been battling in the courtroom over control of the studio.

Orion has also been treading water. The studio lost $24.8 million on revenues of $172 million during its fiscal first quarter ended May 31, compared with losses of $2.5 million on revenues of $92 million a year earlier. The company has delayed filing its second-quarter earnings and revenues.

Orion recently announced a restructuring plan that would downsize the company, cut overhead 42 percent by the end of the year and overhaul the company's production, marketing and distribution strategies.

As part of its plan, Orion is relocating its corporate headquarters and consolidating most of its operations in Los Angeles.

On the lighter side, animation is in again this fall. A cartoon resurgence began in 1988, but this year more and more companies are hopping on the bandwagon.

Burbank-based Walt Disney Co.'s animation division has burgeoned from 160 employees to 600 employees in the past seven years. It has also tripled its pace of releasing animated features.

In addition, the success of "The Simpsons" has spurred the production of several prime-time cartoon television shows aimed at adults. On top of that, children's afternoon and Saturday morning cartoon programming is becoming increasingly more competitive.

As further evidence of the proliferating animation industry, Turner Broadcasting System recently announced it agreed to buy the program library and production commitments of Hollywood-based Hanna-Barbera Productions. Rumors have swirled that Ted Turner might launch a children-oriented cartoon cable network with his new acquisitions.

Also, New York-based Viacom Enterprises is rumored to be in discussions to sell off the rights to its animation library, and MCA, Disney, Time Warner, Turner Broadcasting System and Marvel Productions may all be interested in those rights. Viacom has 689 color cartoons in its library.